Tag: nonfiction
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Should you submit your essays now, or build your collection?
I’m working with a client who has about ten personal essays in various stages of completion. She’d like to publish some of them in journals, but her bigger dream is to compile a collection of essays as a book. On the surface, a book seems like a great goal. The essays are linked thematically, so…
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Do you write with your head or your heart?
Early in my training as a fiction and non-fiction editor at Penguin Random House, I received a key piece of advice from my publisher and mentor Anne Collins. Anne’s advice changed my editing approach. I was stuck on a problem with a fiction manuscript. Anne said, “You’re editing with your head. Edit non-fiction with your…
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What is a book proposal, and do you need one?
When an editor “acquires” a book, that means they buy it. An acquisitions editor usually works in house, for a traditional publisher. Penguin Random House, Milkweed Editions, and Scholastic are examples of traditional publishers. Generally, but not always, when they buy your book a publisher pays an advance against royalties, in several instalments tied to…